NOVEL WEB Chapter 744 – Hidden Fortunes
“Do not disparage other people as stupid just because they have less learning than you do. All too often, people who were unlearned were just as intelligent as those who were learned, they simply lacked the knowledge to connect things to.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.
After a few days of staying in Ibonua, Aideen couldn’t help but praise whoever decided to set the village right where it stood today in her heart.
At first glance, there was nothing particularly special about the parcel of land where the goblin village stood. On further observations, however, Aideen noticed the various factors that made the village’s position such a well thought out one, various little things that just made the location more and more enchanting to her eyes.
The tributary stream that passed through the village was relatively small and rich with fish, crabs, prawns, and other sorts of aquatic creatures, but was also too small for larger predators like crocodiles to comfortably swim in. As a result the stream gave the village a steady source of clean water and food for the picking, with little risk to themselves.
Similarly, the sort of palm-like fronds used by the goblin as their staple food grew in abundance in the vicinity of the village, which made it extremely convenient for the villagers to harvest some whenever they needed more. Aideen expected that the abundant fronds would be able to support the village even if the populace grew five or even tenfold from its present number.
Those were not the only natural blessings around the village, as there were also plenty of the fibrous, large-leaved plants the goblins often processed to make their clothing or roofs for their huts, hardwood trees they used to make tools and weapons, and the river itself over had crystal rocks like obsidian suitable to be turned into knives, spearheads, and other edged tools. Even without any metal sources to call their own – what little metal tools the goblins had were traded with their cousins in the plains – the village could be considered to live in plenty.
In fact, during one of the strolls she took around the jungle in the vicinity of the village, Aideen stumbled upon a literal treasure trove. The sort people would wage war and murder for.
“I swear it’s the Deities’ blessing that you people live so deep in the forest the the Empire down south have no idea of things like these,” she muttered as she knelt down and gently plucked a clover-shaped flower with purplish-silver petals and thick, fleshy leaves. “So much of these growing wild… Wars had been waged over much less in the past…”
“Are these that valuable?” asked the middle-aged goblin who was serving as her guide that day with a puzzled look on his wrinkled face. “We mostly just eat them. They taste quite good in soups and stews, or even just as is.”
“You just eat them… hahaha…” she said as an involuntary chuckle escaped her throat at the absurdity of the situation. In the nations of both the northern and southern continent the plant used to fetch its own weight in gold, and while no longer commanding such an exaggerated price, was still worth more than silver by weight even in the present day. “I swear… but I guess it’s this bit of innocence and naivety that makes your people able to cling to what makes you the way you are.”
“We call these plants Sylphid, and while eating them is indeed one of the many ways to use them and they do taste pretty good, they are useful for so much more,” she explained slowly to the middle-aged goblin. “Amongst others, Sylphid is a major component for several kinds of tinctures that are widely used, amongst them being the most popular and effective sort of contraceptive tincture.”
“Contra- what?” asked the goblin with some confusion.
“If you use the tincture, you can fuck all you want while it’s effective and not have to worry about having kids. Pretty useful when you don’t want more kids and just want to have fun,” she answered. “Other than that it’s also used in remedies for several illnesses, and also as a preservative, usually for things just as expensive as itself, though.”
“We rarely find it growing in groups larger than patches, and here you have an entire field of it growing wild, oh deities! If your people even decide to trade with humans one day, you can sell them these but don’t ever let them know where it grows, lest they try to just take the whole place over,” she added with a shake of her head. “Us humans tend to be greedy assholes like that, sadly.”
The field of Sylphid was vast, easily spanning at least a couple acres. Aideen had not noticed it before because it was in a different direction to the routes she had taken in her visit thus far. Now that she saw it, she couldn’t help but to shake her head at the fortune of the goblin tribe. Their jungle homeland was a harsh place to live in, sure, with temperature and humidity that were so high that it often felt like the very air clung to one’s skin, but it was also a treasure trove that was mostly undiscovered.
“Does Lady think our cousins in the plains might be interested in these?” asked the middle-aged goblin with curiosity.
“They should, now that you mentioned it. You didn’t already trade these with them?”
“We thought they wouldn’t be interested in what we consider as just another vegetable for the pot.”
“All right, I definitely need to get Seta and Jort talking about this,” said Aideen with a somewhat exasperated sigh. She then stood up and shook her head a couple times before turning to look at the direction of the village. “Know what? I’ll make sure to drag the two of them and get them to talk about this the moment we get back to the village. Let’s go back. There’s work to be done!”
